KRLemmons African American History

August 27 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 27 *

1879 – African American publisher Robert Lee Vann is born in
Ahoskie, North Carolina. He will become an African
American publisher, lawyer and the nurturing editor of
the Black newspaper, the Pittsburgh Courier. He will
attend Western University of Pennsylvania. He will
graduate from Law School in June, 1909. In 1910, he will
become the Pittsburgh Courier’s editor and publisher.
Under his leadership, The Courier will develop into one
of the leading Black newspapers of the era. By the 1930s,
it will be one of the highest circulated Black newspapers
in the United States. As many as 14 different editions
will be circulated throughout the country. He will become
involved in politics throughout his association with The
Courier. In 1918, he will be appointed the fourth
assistant city solicitor in Pittsburgh, the highest
position held by an African American in the city
government. Initially a Republican, he will grow
disillusioned with the party and convert to the
Democratic Party. On September 11, 1932, he will deliver
a famous speech at the St. James Literary Forum in
Cleveland, Ohio entitled “The Patriot and the Partisan”
and will urge African Americans throughout the nation to
turn away from the Republican party which had failed them,
and support the Democratic party of Franklin D. Roosevelt
in the 1932 election. He will support Franklin D.
Roosevelt in the 1932 election, and will subsequently be
named special assistant to the U.S. attorney general. In
1935, he will help campaign for the enactment of an equal
rights law in the State of Pennsylvania. He will serve as
editor and publisher of The Pittsburgh Courier until he
joins the ancestors on October 24, 1940.

1909 – Lester Young is born into a musical family in Woodville,
Mississippi. Young was taught several instruments by
his father. As a child he played drums in the family’s
band, but around 1928 he quit the group and switched to
tenor saxophone. His first engagements on this
instrument were with Art Bronson, in Phoenix, Arizona.
He stayed with Bronson until 1930, with a brief side
trip to play again with the family, then worked in and
around Minneapolis, Minnesota, with various bands. In
the spring of 1932 he joined the Original Blue Devils,
under the leadership of Walter Page, and was one of
several members of the band who joined Bennie Moten in
Kansas City towards the end of 1933. During the next
few years Young played in the bands of Moten, George E.
Lee, King Oliver, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Andy
Kirk and others. He will join the ancestors on March 15,
1959.

1918 – Dr. Joseph L. Johnson is named minister to Liberia.

1963 – W.E.B. DuBois joins the ancestors at age 95 in Accra,
Ghana. He was one of America’s foremost scholars, a
militant civil rights activist, founding father of the
NAACP, and leading proponent of Pan-Africanism.

1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have A Dream”
speech in Washington, DC during the 1963 March on
Washington.

1966 – A racially motivated civil disobedience riot occurs in
Waukegan, Illinois.

1975 – Haile Selassie, “Lion of Judah” and deposed Ethiopian
emperor, joins the ancestors at age 83 in Addis Ababa.

1982 – Rickey Henderson steals 119th base of season breaking Lou
Brock’s mark.

1983 – The second “March on Washington for Jobs, Peace, and
Freedom” is held.

1989 – ‘Johnny B Goode’ is performed by Chuck Berry for NASA
engineers and scientists in celebration of Voyager II’s
encounter with the planet Neptune.

1991 – Central Life Insurance Company, the last surviving
African American owned insurance company in the state of
Florida, is ordered liquidated by a Florida circuit
court judge.

2000 – Tiger Woods becomes the first male golfer since Johnny
Miller in 1975 to successfully defend three titles in
one year when he wins the NEC World Invitational.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons African American History

August 26 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – August 26 *

1874 – Sixteen African Americans are lynched in the state of
Tennessee.

1900 – Hale Woodruff is born in Cairo, Illinois. He will study art
in the United States, Paris and fresco painting with Diego
Rivera in Mexico. He will also start the influential
Atlanta University shows for African American artists in
the 1940’s.

1905 – George Washington joins the ancestors in Centralia,
Washington. An African American settler of a vast land
claim at the junction of the Shockumchuck and Chehalis
rivers in 1851, Washington endured schemes of white
settlers to take his land and the Indian Wars of 1853 to
found the town of Centerville (later Centralia),
Washington,in 1875.

1943 – William L. Dawson is elected as the Black Democratic Party
Vice President candidate.

1947 – Daniel Robert “Dan” Bankhead becomes the first African
American pitcher in major-league baseball. The Brooklyn
Dodger hurler helps his own cause by slamming a home run
in his first appearance at the plate.

1948 – Valerie Simpson (Ashford) is born in the Bronx, New York
City. She will become an accomplished singer, composer,
and producer. She will marry Nicholas ‘Nick’ Ashford and
perform with him for many years. She will lose her husband
and entertainment partner when he joins the ancestors after
succumbing to throat cancer on August 22, 2011.

1960 – Jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis is born in New Orleans,
Louisiana. He will begin his musical career with Art
Blakey & the Jazz Messengers, later playing with his
brother Wynton’s quintet, will record with Miles Davis,
Dizzy Gillespie, and Sting, and become musical director
for the Tonight Show in 1992.

1982 – Rickey Henderson ties Lou Brock’s 1974 record of 118
stolen bases in a season, as the Milwaukee Brewers down
the Kansas City Royals, 10-3.

1985 – Baltimore Oriole Eddie Murray knocks in 9 RBIs in a game
vs the California Angels.

1998 – Attorney General Janet Reno reopens the investigation of
the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., focusing on two allegations of a conspiracy
beyond James Earl Ray.

2000 – Sir Lynden Pindling, the father of Bahamas independence,
joins the ancestors after succumbing to prostate cancer.
Pindling had led the Black Progressive Liberal Party to
victory in 1967. Sir Lynden ruled the Bahamas for 25
years. He resigned from the House of Assembly in July
1997, ending 41 years of unbroken service as a legislator.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons African American History

August 25 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 25 *

1862 – The Secretary of War authorizes General Rufus Saxton to
arm up to five thousand slaves.

1886 – Some six hundred delegates organize the American National
Baptist Convention at a St. Louis meeting. Rev.
William J. Simmons is elected president.

1886 – Kentucky State College (now University), chartered in May,
1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons and
only the second state-supported institution of higher
learning in Kentucky, is founded in Frankfort, Kentucky.
It will become a land grant college in 1890.

1925 – A. Phillip Randolph organizes the Sleeping Car Porters’
Union (Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters) at a mass
meeting in the Elks’ Hall in Harlem. He is elected
president.

1927 – Althea Gibson is born in Silver, South Carolina. She will
grow up to be a pioneer in the field of tennis, becoming
the first African American to play tennis at the U.S.
Open in 1950 and at Wimbledon the following year. In
1957, she will win the singles and doubles titles at
Wimbledon, another first for an African American. In 1964,
she will become the first African American woman to play
in the Ladies Professional Golf Association. However, she
will be too old to be successful and only play for a few
years. In 1971, she will be inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame, and in 1975, she will
be appointed the New Jersey state commissioner of
athletics. After 10 years on the job, she will go on to
work in other public service positions, including serving
on the governor’s council on physical fitness. She will
join the ancestors on September 28, 2003.

1950 – Sugar Ray Robinson knocks out Jose Basora to retain the
Pennsylvania Middleweight Title.

1964 – Blair Underwood is born in Tacoma, Washington. He will
become an actor and will star in “Downtown,” and will be
best known for his role as “L.A. Law’s” Jonathan Rollins.

1965 – James M. Nabrit Jr. is named ambassador and assigned to
the United Nations’ delegation.

1991 – African Americans receive seven Emmy awards, a record
number up to that time.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons African American History

August 24 African American Historical Events

* Today in Black History – August 24 *

1854 – John VanSurley deGrasse, M.D., who received his medical
degree from Bowdoin College in 1849, becomes a member of
the Massachusetts Medical Society, a first for an African
American.

1854 – National Emigration Convention meets in Cleveland with one
hundred delegates. William C. Munroe of Michigan is
elected president.

1937 – Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola is born in Abeokuta,
Nigeria. He will a member of a very poor household of
Yoruba-speaking Muslims. He will attend the Islamic Nawar
Ud-Deen School and the Christian-run African Central
School. After graduating from the Baptist Boys’ High
School, he will work as a bank clerk and a civil servant.
He will go on to win a scholarship to Glasgow University
to study accounting. He will graduate with several awards
in 1965. He will return to Nigeria and will work for
major firms before launching his own company, Radio
Communications of Nigeria, in 1974. He will accumulate
great wealth in a short period of time. His business
interests will span 60 countries and include firms engaged
in banking, shipping, oil prospecting, agriculture,
publishing, air transportation, and entertainment. His
Nigerian companies alone will employ close to 20,000
workers. He will oppose the Nigerian military
dictatorship and on June 12, 1993, will be elected
president in a long awaited presidential election, only to
have the election results nullified by the country’s
military leader. When Abiola announces a year later that
he is the country’s legitimate leader, he will be
imprisoned by the current dictator, General Sani Abacha.
After Abacha joins the ancestors suddenly in 1998,
attempts were made to free Abiola, but he will also join
the ancestors on July 7, 1998, before his freedom becomes
a reality. His death will cause violence to occur and spur
anti-government anger throughout the country.

1965 – Reggie Miller is born. He will become a professional
basketball player and guard for the Indiana Pacers. He
will play on the ‘Dream Team’ in the 1996 Olympics.

1967 – Amanda Randolph joins the ancestors at the age of 65. She
had been an actress and was best known for her roles on
the Danny Thomas Show and television’s Amos ‘n’ Andy
(Mama).

1987 – Bayard Rustin, longtime civil rights activist, early
Freedom Rider, and a key organizer of the 1963 March on
Washington, joins the ancestors in New York City. A
Quaker, Rustin was best known as a civil rights advocate,
first as one of the founders of the Congress for Racial
Equality (CORE), then as a key advisor to a young Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons African American History

August 23 African American Historical Events

Today in Black History – August 23 *

1826 – Edward A. Jones receives his B.A. degree from Amherst
College. John Brown Russwurm is considered to be the
first African American in America to graduate from
college. Two years after entering Bowdoin College, he
receives his baccalaureate degree on September 6, 1826.
Edward A. Jones, the lesser known of the two, graduates
just two weeks prior on this date in 1826 from Amherst
College. Both men will receive their Masters Degrees,
John in 1829 and Edward in 1830.

1833 – Great Britain frees 700,000 slaves in its colonies.

1892 – O.E. Brown, inventor, receives a patent for a horseshoe.

1900 – The National Negro Business League is formed in Boston,
Massachusetts. Sponsored by Booker T. Washington, the
organization is established to stimulate the development
of African American businesses.

1908 – Fifty-two nurses, led by Martha M. Franklin, form the
National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.

1917 – A riot occurs in Houston, Texas, when the 24th Infantry
seeks revenge on the city’s white police after the brutal
beating of two of the regiment’s soldiers. After two
hours of violence, 15 whites, including four policemen,
will be killed and 12 more are injured. Four soldiers
will die as a result of the violence. One hundred and
eighteen soldiers will be charged in connection with the
riots and 19 executed, most in almost total secrecy, in
one of the most infamous court-martials ever involving
African Americans.

1989 – An African American teenager named Yusef Hawkins is chased
and beaten to death by a mob of 30 white youths from the
neighborhood of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, New York. The
only provocation is that he is African American in an
all-white neighborhood.

2003 – Bobby Bonds joins the ancestors at the age of 57 after
succumbing to lung cancer. He was a former San Francisco
Giant player.

Information retrieved from the Munirah Chronicle and is edited by Rene’ A. Perry.

KRLemmons Uncategorized

another way forward

elliottzetta's avatarFledgling

A while back I wrote a post about “queering kidlit” in which I critiqued the attempt to prove that books by/about people of color are “just like” books by/about whites. I later asked my friend for some further reading and she pointed me to this article by Cathy Cohen. This was JUST the quote I needed:

transformational politics…a politics that does not search for opportunities to integrate into dominant institutions and normative social relationships, but instead pursues a political agenda that seeks to change values, definitions, and laws which make these institutions and relationships oppressive.” ~Cathy J. Cohen, “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens

I plan to cite this article in my Kidlitcon presentation in October. It looks like a really great line-up; if you’ll be attending, please let me know. Right now I’m trying to prepare a short video statement about the relationship between the crisis in Ferguson…

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KRLemmons Uncategorized

Keeping Track of What I Read: August

Evelyn N. Alfred's avatarHighly Textured Librarian

1. Petty Theft by Pascal Girard (Graphic novel).

2. Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett & Adam Rex (Picture book).

3. My Teacher is a Monster! by Peter Brown (Picture book).

4. “Girl/Box” by Roxane Gay (Short story).

5. East of West, Vol. 1 by Jonathan Hickman (Graphic novel).

6. I am so Brave! by Stephen Krensky (Picture book).

7. “The Anger in Ferguson” by Jelani Cobb (Online article).

8. “not an elegy for Mike Brown” by Danez Smith (Poem).

9. “Discussing Race & Racism with Your Black Friends: Dos and Don’ts” by Ashley N. Black (Online article).

10. “Ferguson and Patience for the Appalled” by Stacia L. Brown (Online article).

11. “5 Poems From Prelude To Bruise” by Saeed Jones (Poetry/Online article).

12. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (Essay collection).
http://instagram.com/p/py-V94FANt/

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